"I think the buzz that he's here has seeped into the room," DeBoer said. "I don't think that the buzz of the game tonight with him; I think that the fact that he's here and he's out on the ice with us every day -- there's no doubt that's been a boost to our group right from the minute he walked in."
Since Karlsson's arrival,
Justin Braun
,
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
's longtime defense partner, has been moved to the third pair with
Brenden Dillon
, who played last season with DeMelo. Brent Burns and
Joakim Ryan
have remained together.
"It's been pretty easy so far," Vlasic said of playing with Karlsson. "It's easy when you come in and you're playing with elite players. You can adapt pretty quickly. I played with guys of his caliber before throughout my career, so it won't be any different for me to adapt to his style of play."
Forward Joe Pavelski said he's looking forward to seeing Karlsson in game action.
"We've had a good week together," he said. "In practice we simulated a few little scrimmages and spent a little more time on the power play. As often as you do it throughout the regular season, it's still getting back into it, where it just comes and you're going to spots and making reads and not thinking a whole lot. It's good to get some extra meetings in, and once we get out there we can really start building as well."
The Sharks play their final preseason game Sunday at Vegas and open the regular season at home against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 3 (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN).
"Everything we do now is to get ready for Wednesday," Vlasic said, "so having everybody in, working on special teams, working on everything we need to do to get ready is good."
